Motion Analysis Corporation

3617 Westwind Boulevard

Santa Rosa, CA USA 95403
(T) 707.579.6500
www.motionanalysis.com
info@motionanalysis.com
SIMM (Software for Interactive Musculoskeletal Modeling)
SIMM (Sofware for Interactive Musculoskeletal Modeling) is a
powerful tool kit that facilitates the modeling, animation, and
analysis of 3D musculoskeletal systems. In SIMM, a musculo-
skeletal model consists of representations of bones, muscles,
ligaments, and other structures. Muscles span the joints and de-
velop force, thus generating moments about the joints. SIMM
enables an analysis of a musculoskeletal model by calculating
the joint moments that each muscle can generate at any body
position. By manipulating a model using the graphical inter-
face, the user can quickly explore the efects of changing mus-
culoskeletal geometry and other model parameters on muscle
forces and joint moments. SIMM is used by hundreds of biome-
chanics researchers to create computer models of musculoskel-
etal structures and to simulate movements such as walking, cy-
cling, running, jumping, weight lifing, reaching, and throwing.
Using SIMM, researchers have created models of the upper and
lower extremities to examine the biomechanical consequences
of surgical procedures including tendon transfers, osteotomies,
and total joint replacements. A lower-extremity model was used
to estimate musculotendon lengths, velocities, moment arms,
and induced accelerations during normal and pathologic gait.
Studies have been conducted to investigate the treatment of in-
dividuals with spinal cord injury, to analyze joint mechanics in
subjects with patellofemoral pain, to calculate forces at the knee
during running and cutting, and to investigate causes of abnor-
mal gait. SIMM has also helped bring simulation to biologists
who have created computational models of the frog, tyranno-
saur, cockroach, cheetah, and other animals.
Leading sports performance and clinical gait analysis centers
use SIMM to visualize the relationships between external forc-
es, muscle activity, and the resulting body motion. Using SIMM,
our movement analysis customers display 3D animations and
help determine ways to improve an individuals performance.
SIMM is also being used to analyze and improve the perfor-
mance of various internal and external prosthetics, as well as
exoskeletons and other robotic assistive devices.
Te dynamics module in SIMM allows users to perform for-
ward and inverse dynamic simulations on musculoskeletal
models. A forward simulation can calculate the motion and
contact forces resulting from the specifed muscle excitations,
and an inverse simulation can calculate the muscle activations
and forces required to generate the specifed motion. Tese sim-
ulations can lend considerable insight into the causes of move-
ment abnormalities, the expected efects of possible treatments,
and the design of corrective devices. Industrial designers have
used dynamic simulations in SIMM to improve the design of
knee implants and to analyze muscle fatigue during repetitive
tasks.
Features
Motion Capture Importer. SIMM can import motion capture
fles (C3D, TRB, TRC) for playback and detailed musculoskel-
etal analysis. It can also import data in real-time from a Motion
Analysis system and animate a 3D model while the data is being
captured.
Gait Reporting. Te Motion Reporter tool creates reports of
sets of motions. Te reports contain averages, standard devia-
tions, and comparison to normal data, and include formatted
Excel graphs for easy analysis. For gait reports, the tool calcu-
lates gait events and automatically divides recorded motions
into lef and right strides.
Scripting. Te Scripting tool executes scripts with commands
to load models and motion data, perform dynamic simulations,
and create plots and reports. Scripts can also be used to save
various SIMM tool settings so that they are restored the next
time you start SIMM or load a particular model.
Model Scaling. Te scaling utility automatically scales a ge-
neric model to match any size individual, based on measure-
ments it makes from a static motion capture trial. All model
components, including muscle paths, are scaled with the body
segments (scaling of muscle force-generating parameters is op-
tional).
Dynamic Simulation. With the dynamics module, you can
perform forward and inverse dynamic simulations on any
SIMM model. Simulations can be controlled from within the
SIMM GUI, or as stand-alone programs. Te dynamics module
contains many sophisticated algorithms for detecting contact
between bodies and for optimizing muscle activations, but it is
also extensible. All of the source code for dynamic simulations
is accessible to the user, so it can be modifed or enhanced as
needed.
Muscle Wrapping. You can interactively defne spheres, ellip-
soids, cylinders, and torii for muscle-tendon actuators to wrap
over. SIMM automatically calculates muscle paths over these
wrapping objects. Muscle lengths, forces, and moment arms are
all calculated correctly for the wrapped muscle.
Live Plots. A live plot curve is a plot of a muscle property that
is updated automatically whenever any property of the muscle
changes. Live plot curves are very useful when creating and
modifying muscles because you can instantly observe the ef-
fects of moving an attachment point or a wrap object (or chang-
ing any other property) on the length, moment arm, and force
of the muscle.
Bone Deformations. A deformation tool allows you to warp
bones into new shapes to model various bony deformities. De-
formations such as tibial torsion and femoral anteversion are
straightforward to model and can be implemented with a range
of severity of deformation.
Movie import/export. You can import videos associated with
motion data and play them on a virtual screen in the model
window during the motion animation. Tis makes it easy to do
a side-by-side comparison of the model animation and the live
video. You can also export movies of the model window to an
AVI fle.
Skins. In SIMM, a skin is any 3D polygonal surface that is
linked to one or more body segments. By linking diferent re-
gions of a skin to diferent segments, the skin can be made to
deform when the joints move. Skins can be used to represent
anatomical skin, muscle surfaces, fascia, ligaments, or any oth-
er deformable surface. Tey can also be rendered with texture
maps to enhance the realism of the display.
GUI tools. Many new user interface elements make it easy to
interact with a model and to change the display properties of
the bones, muscles, and other model components. Full support
for drag and drop has been added for all SIMM fle types, so it
is easier than ever to load models and motion data into SIMM,
as well as perform functions such as adding a new bone or run-
ning a script.
Benefts
Increased understanding of motion capture data through
the intuitive integration of kinematics, forces, EMG, and gait
events
Improved surgical outcomes because multiple procedures can
be simulated in advance
Easy creation of comprehensive gait reports, including graphs
of muscle lengths and forces
Provides immediate feedback to, and helps educate, patients
and colleagues
Real-time visualization of muscle lengths and forces helps
with analysis and improvement of athletic activities
Connection to OpenSIM
SIMM has powerful tools for creating musculoskeletal models
and performing isometric and dynamic analyses. OpenSim ex-
tends these capabilities by providing additional dynamics fea-
tures such as residual reduction and computed muscle control.
Together, SIMM and OpenSim ofer biomechanics researchers
unsurpassed capabilities for modeling and simulation of the
musculoskeletal system.
OpenSim is an open-source sofware system that lets users cre-
ate and analyze dynamic simulations of movement. It is being
developed at Simbios, a NIH center at Stanford University for
physics-based simulation of biological structures.
Because OpenSim can import and export SIMM models, us-
ers can easily take advantage of features in each package. Tey
can import their SIMM models and motion data into OpenSim,
perform residual reduction and computed muscle control anal-
yses, and export the results back to SIMM for further analysis
and model development.
Motion Analysis Corporation
3617 Westwind Boulevard
Santa Rosa, CA USA 95403
(T) 707.579.6500
www.motionanalysis.com
info@motionanalysis.com